July 12 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. House Republicans urged passage
of a measure to block a phase-out of traditional light bulbs, as
the Obama administration called the bill anti-consumer.

The legislation, which was debated on the House floor
yesterday and is scheduled for a vote later today, would cost
Americans $6 billion in energy savings in 2015, the White House
said in a statement yesterday.

Representative Joe Barton, a Texas Republican, introduced
the proposal to invalidate lighting efficiency standards that
would effectively ban bulbs similar to the one invented by
Thomas Edison more than 130 years ago. The requirements were
included in a 2007 energy law signed by Republican President
George W. Bush.

Keeping the light-bulb standards in place would be
“overkill by the federal government,” Barton said in
yesterday’s debate.

“If you’re Al Gore, and you want to spend $10 a light
bulb, more power to you,” Barton said, referring to the former
Democratic vice president who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his
advocacy of policies to curb climate change. Consumers should be
able to buy the cheaper incandescent bulbs if they want to,
Barton and other Republicans said.

Representative Michael Burgess, a Texas Republican, said on
the House floor that the government “wants to tell consumers
what type of light bulb they use to read, cook, watch
television, or light their garage.”

Health Concerns

Republicans also said mercury in one type of efficient
device, the compact fluorescent light, or CFL, raises
environmental and health concerns.

The new standards will cut air pollution and save consumers
money in the long run, Democrats said. Representative Edward
Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, said during debate that the
efficiency standards will save the amount of energy over 20
years that would otherwise be produced by 30 coal-fired plants.

The danger posed by the mercury in CFLs is
“extraordinarily small,” David Goldston, director of
government affairs for the Natural Resources Defense Council,
said on a conference call yesterday with reporters.

Republicans are bringing up the bill under parliamentary
rules that prohibit amendments and require two-thirds of the
members voting to pass.

Senate Future

If the measure clears the higher vote hurdle, it faces an
uncertain future in the Senate. Senator Jeff Bingaman, the
chairman of the Senate Energy panel, “thinks that efforts to
repeal the law are just plain dumb,” Bill Wicker, a spokesman
for the New Mexico Democrat, said in an e-mail.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a
hearing on a similar bill introduced by Senator Michael Enzi, a
Wyoming Republican. “The committee plans no further action,”
Wicker said.

Bulbs have to be about 30 percent more efficient than
today’s products, starting with the 100-watt bulb in 2012,
followed by other versions in 2013 and 2014.

The administration said the new requirements won’t dictate
how Americans illuminate their homes. “Any type of bulb can be
sold as long as it meets the efficiency requirements,” the
White House said, without issuing a veto threat.

“The bill would hinder an opportunity to save American
consumers money,” according to the statement. The new standards
also offer a chance for “enhancing energy efficiency and
reducing harmful emissions associated with energy production.”

Manufacturers Retool

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association, which
includes Fairfield, Connecticut-based General Electric Co., is
lobbying against the push to prevent the light-bulb changes.
Manufacturers have said they already retooled their factories to
make products that comply with the new standards.

Environmental groups and efficiency advocates have also
countered the Republican-led push by noting potential cost
savings to consumers under the 2007 law.

Consumers would save about $92 billion from 2012 to 2030,
including higher up-front costs of replacement bulbs, according
to Andrew deLaski, executive director of the Appliance Standards
Awareness Project in Boston.

In some cases, Barton said consumers would have to use the
new bulbs for 10 years to recoup the higher price at stores.

Supporters of the phase-out include one of Edison’s great-grandchildren. Barry Sloane, a 61-year-old risk-management
consultant, says he cut his power bills by about 10 percent
since he replaced the familiar pear-shaped bulbs in his 3,000-square-foot Woodbury, New Jersey, home. He now uses CFLs.

‘Quest For Perfection’

His famous relative would’ve approved because Edison was on
a “constant quest for perfection,” Sloane said in an interview
yesterday.

Mike Brownfield, a spokesman for the Washington-based
Heritage Foundation, said restrictions in the 2007 law “have
become a hallmark of Nanny State overreach, provoking backlash
across the country.”